Daring to Dream Again: Confront the… – Part 4

April 12, 2012 by admin

Confront the Scandal of Our Prejudices—Part 4

I’m continuing with a section from Tales of the Resistance, written by my wife, Karen. Her tale called “Doubletalk, Triple Tongue, and Theysay.” This story has something to teach us about prejudice.

Double talk made positive announcements out of one side of his mouth. “The Enchanter is coming!”, for instance, or, “Melons in the marketplace!” would be announced out of the right side. Negative announcements, however, would be shouted out of the left side of his mouth: “The Enchanter is not coming!” “The melons have all been stolen!”

Trouble began when Double talk couldn’t decide if the announcement was negative or positive. Was the theft of rutabagas good or bad news? Or, maybe, it was a good thing that the Enchanter wasn’t coming.

Consequently, he began to make announcements out of both sides of his mouth. “The Enchanter is coming!” (on the right side). “The Enchanter is not coming!” (on the left). Then both at the same time. His tongue worked so hard it eventually split in two:

Double talk always worked up a sweat, but no one appreciated his great effort. People standing beneath his column shouted, “Heh, bub! Make up yer mind. Watcha got? Wet-noodle brains?” And they threw rotten tomatoes.

Double talk—one thing out of one side of the mouth and something else out of the other side. Contradictory announcements.

Witness to your non-Christian friends, but don’t associate with too many non-Christians or you might compromise your convictions.
Treat all people with Christian love—except African Americans who move into your neighborhood, because then your property value will drop.
Make use of all the gifts the Holy Spirit has given you unless, of course, you are a woman who would violate all that is sacred if you thought you had gifts intended only for men. Prejudices. We still have them, don’t we? I see them often standing in the way of the dreams God has for the world.

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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?

Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.

We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

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Realistic Expectations

April 11, 2012 by admin

Young preachers would do well to acquaint themselves with the Old Testament prophets. Reading the messages of men like Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel gives a contemporary preacher a feel for just how resistant hearers can be to “a word from the Lord.”

You probably recall Isaiah’s accusation of his listeners in chapter 30. Here’s verses 10-13:

They say to the seers,
“See no more visions!”
and to the prophets,
“Give us no more visions of what is right!
Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.
Leave this way, get off this path,
and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!”

To expect the majority of your congregation to quickly put into practice what you preach is not realistic. Most people are slow to change and amazingly capable of forgetting your words very quickly.

Even with some of what I feel were my “best messages,” I would be surprised if as high as 10% of those who heard me preach actually en-fleshed what I asked for in the conclusion to my sermon. Most of the time my expectation would be more in the 3-5% range.

This isn’t to minimize what God can do through preaching. It’s to report that even the most articulate of speakers seldom get into the double digits when we’re talking about measurable spiritual changes in lives as a result of sermons.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that with 5% of those applying what their minister preaches each Lord’s Day, that still accounts for considerable growth over a period of years.

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Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

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Daring to Dream Again: Confront the… – Part 3

April 10, 2012 by admin

Confront the Scandal of Our Prejudices—Part 3

Double Bind

I’ve illustrated previous chapters with sections from Tales of the Resistance, written by my wife, Karen. Her tale called “Double talk, Triple Tongue, and They say” has something to teach us about prejudice.

Heralds stood on broadcast columns throughout Enchanted City and shouted news. They announced special events as well as the hour of the night. Because of power-outs, however, no one really knew the correct time. One herald might proclaim, “Midnight. All’s well!” while another shouted “Ten thirty o’clock. Half-night approaches!” No wonder citizens suffered from indigestion, they were always eating dinner at the wrong hour.

Double talk, Triple Tongue, and They say were friends. The three boys had grown up in Moire Oxan, the tenement slums which stretched for miles, hovel stacked upon hovel. Together they endured illness, poverty, hunger, and branding. When They say’s parents died, the other two helped him escape orphan dragnets by hiding him back and forth in their own tenement hovels, at great risk of penalty to themselves.

All were now heralds of the Enchanter-and proud of their accomplishment. It was something for penniless young men to rise to heraldship, to stand on the tall broadcast columns, trusted with all the news fit to proclaim. It was something for ragtag ruffians to wear the red and yellow jerseys with the Enchanter’s insignia of blazing fire. It was something to blow the herald horn whenever the wizard’s sleek black limousine moved ominously through the city streets, and to shout, “The Enchanter is coming! Make way for the Enchanter!”

Unfortunately, heralds frequently made contradictory announcements. One might shout, “Melons in the marketplace! First come, first served!” while the herald on the very next post was shouting, “No melons today! Try rutabagas in your fruit salad!”

Some people suspected that heralds were chosen only•if they had something wrong with their speech. Some heralds spoke backwards, “!gnimoc si retnahcnE ehT” Some had twisted tongues. Some had lockmouth, so that all s’s whistled through clenched teeth with a wicked his-s-s-s-s-s-s. Some had very bad breath.

(Continued with Thursday’s blog post…)

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Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

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Daring to Dream Again: Confront the… – Part 2

April 9, 2012 by admin

Confront the Scandal of Our Prejudices—Part 2

The Lord was preparing Peter to be responsive to the invitation of this Gentile he normally wouldn’t even have associated with. That’s because God wanted His apostles to extend the message of His kingdom beyond the Jewish world. To do that, to get these servants of His to buy into His more expansive dream, the Lord had to somehow break through certain prejudices they held.

Peter figured out the puzzle of his vision a lot faster than I did the message of my dream. He had to, because before long he found himself at the home of Cornelius, preaching Christ and seeing the Holy Spirit fall upon the group. The Scriptures report:

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers [or, the Jewish believers] who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God (Acts 10:44-46).

I believe it’s fair to say that God forces us to confront the scandal of our prejudices when they stand in the way of the fulfillment of His dreams. The early church, which was almost exclusively Jewish, would undoubtedly have stayed that way if the Lord had not pushed His key leaders, such as Peter, and said, “Don’t call anything impure that God has made clean.”

Since the first century, this kind of nudging has continued through the generations. I hold the conviction that this is one of the things the Lord is trying to do in His church even today.

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Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

Share and Enjoy

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